Editorials & Other Articles

Dulcinea

(6,643 posts) Tue Jun 27, 2017, 07:13 AM Jun 2017

From Birth To Death, Medicaid Affects The Lives Of Millions

Medicaid is the government health care program for the poor.

That's the shorthand explanation. But Medicaid is so much more than that — which is why it's become the focal point of the battle in Washington to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

President Obama expanded Medicaid under his signature health care law to cover 11 million more people, bringing the total number of people covered up to 69 million.

Now Republicans want to reverse that expansion, and they want to go much further in cutting back on the number of people covered and federal dollars spent. The legislation they're contemplating in both the House and Senate shrinks and fundamentally restructures the program.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/27/534436521/from-birth-to-death-medicaid-affects-the-lives-of-millions

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From Birth To Death, Medicaid Affects The Lives Of Millions (Original Post) Dulcinea Jun 2017 OP

Before I retired last year I worked for a county alcohol, drug and mental health services departmet. wasupaloopa Jun 2017 #1

wasupaloopa

(4,516 posts)

1. Before I retired last year I worked for a county alcohol, drug and mental health services departmet.

Reply to Dulcinea (Original post)

Tue Jun 27, 2017, 07:38 AM

Jun 2017

Before the ACA we had many indigent men who were treated for drug and mental health issues. By law we could not turn them away because they had no insurance.

Their care was paid for by state sales tax and vehicle license fees and by county general funds from property tax.

When the ACA was passed these indigent men became eligible for Medicaid in our state (CA) because of Medicaid expansion. Because of the ACA, the county was reimbursed 100% for the cost of treating any Medicaid patient where previously it was only 50%. That meant the money that was used to pay for indigent services could be used to treat more people because it allowed us to expand our budget.

If the ACA goes away then these indigent men will have no insurance again and the budget will shrink meaning there will be less services available to poor people coming to county clinics.

That is the effect ofgiving the money to people who do not need it.

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